Technology+in+Education-+current+trends

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Adapted from: Encyclopedia of Education. (2002). //Technology in education: current trends.// Retrieved March 18, 2012, from Gale Opposing viewpoints in context: @http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Educational_technology.aspx


 * Technology in Education- current trends **

Susan M. Williams

ICT can be used in many different ways, and how it is introduced and used in educational settings __depends__ largely on teachers' instructional goals and strategies. Changes in the goals of education during the latter part of the twentieth century, together with increases in the amount and type of available technology, has created changes in teachers' use of technology.

In the 1970s and early 1980s the primary goal of instruction was to have students memorize important information and procedures. Instruction was teacher-led and dominated by lectures, followed by practice using worksheets and short-answer tests. Students worked alone to complete assignments, and when help was needed they consulted parents, teachers, or textbooks for assistance. __If__ computers were available in classrooms during this time period, their use mirrored this way of learning; that is, they were mainly used to present reading texts and test students' understanding and memory for information in the readings.

Research on learning has shown the limitations of this type of instruction. Students often forget memorized information, or they fail to use it in situations where it would be useful. They need help in connecting new information to what they already know and in extending and applying their knowledge to new problems. //Researchers in the early twenty-first century believe that students learn best when they work to combine their own past experience with new information in order to solve// problems //that are personally meaningful to them//.

In addition to changes in the understanding of how students learn, there have been major changes in what educators and policymakers believe students should know how to do. The dramatic growth in information since 1950 has shifted the purpose of education. Information has become abundant and easily accessible. Rather than reading the summarized ideas presented by a textbook, students have access to many different points of view. //Instead of memorizing, students now need assistance in learning how to find and select relevant// information //for problems they need to solve. They need to learn how to collaborate with others as they solve these problems and communicate their solutions to their teachers and to the world outside their classroom.//

Along with changes in what students should know and an increased understanding of how they learn, new approaches to instruction are being advocated. //Instead of listening to lectures and memorizing facts and procedures, educational// reforms //suggest that students learn best in the context of solving complex, realistic problems.// Students who acquire new information as they solve problems are able to understand its usefulness, remember it, and use it to solve problems in the future. Solving interesting problems is more likely to stimulate a student's interest than memorizing isolated facts, and this interest has been shown to positively affect learning. Students solving real problems view their efforts as real work and have a sense of purpose and value.

Organizing instruction around problem solving makes new demands on teachers, including locating meaningful problems and projects and providing students with the resources and guidance for solving them. Teachers are finding that ICT can help them meet these demands, and they are integrating it into their instruction in many new and exciting ways.

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"Human Development Report 2001: Making New Technologies Work for Human Development." < <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none;">www.undp.org/hdr2001/ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> >. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, TACOMA 2001. "Conductivity and Temperature Study." < <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none;">www.Tacoma.Washington.edu/education/intel/Projects/Morrison_photo.htm <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> >. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">SUSAN M. WILLIAMS